Lockheed WP-3D Orion NOAA Hurricane Hunter

The Lockheed WP-3D Orion is a highly modified P-3 Orion used by the Aircraft Operations Center division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Only two of these aircraft exist, each incorporating numerous features for the role of collecting weather information. During hurricane season, the WP-3Ds are deployed for duty as hurricane hunters. The aircraft also support research on other topics, such as Arctic ice coverage, air chemistry studies, and ocean water temperature and current analysis.

The WP-3Ds are equipped with three weather radars, C band radars in the nose and on the lower fuselage, and an X-band radar in the aircraft's tail. They are also equipped with the ability to deploy dropsondes into storm systems, and have onboard temperature sensors, and other meteorological equipment. The aircraft are not specially strengthened for flying into hurricanes, however their decks were reinforced to withstand the additional equipment load.

It has two barber-pole samplers (named for their red-and-white stripes) which protrude from the aircraft’s front, a tail Doppler weather radar, and other unique-looking instruments hanging from the wing.

NOAA currently operates two WP-3Ds nicknamed Miss Piggy and Kermit, and their logos featuring the characters created by Jim Henson Productions. NOAA's other hurricane hunting aircraft, the Gulfstream IV-SP, is named Gonzo; they complement the fleet of WC-130 aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. As of 2014, the two Orions had each flown more than 10,000 hours and flown into more than 80 hurricanes.

During 2015 to 2017 the aircraft will receive major overhauls, costing a total of $35 million. This work is being performed by the US Navy, Fleet Readiness Center SE in Jacksonville Florida. The work includes new wings and engines and upgraded radars and avionics. NOAA anticipates that these changes will allow the aircraft to fly for another 15-20 years.

Hurricane hunters are aircrews that fly into tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic Ocean and Northeastern Pacific Ocean to gather weather data. Currently, the U.S. units that fly these missions are the United States Air Force Reserve's 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's) NOAA Hurricane Hunters; such missions have also been flown by Navy units and other Air Force and NOAA units.

One U.S. aircrew has been lost in duty since such missions began in 1943. Six of the seven crew members of the Navy PB4Y-2 (BuNo 59415) were killed on October 1, 1945 when their plane went down in a Category 1 typhoon over the South China Sea.

Before satellites were used to find storms, military aircraft flew routine weather reconnaissance tracks to detect formation of tropical cyclones. Today, satellites have revolutionized weather forecasters' ability to detect signs of such cyclones before they form, yet they cannot determine the interior barometric pressure of a hurricane nor provide accurate wind speed information — data needed to accurately predict hurricane development and movement.


View of the eyewall of Hurricane Katrina taken on August 28, 2005, by a NOAA P-3.

The civilian and NOAA Corps crew members of the NOAA Hurricane Hunters, based at the Aircraft Operations Center at MacDill AFB, in Tampa, Florida, mainly perform surveillance, research, and reconnaissance with highly instrumented aircraft including airborne Doppler weather radar measurements in both Atlantic and Pacific storms. They fly two Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, heavily instrumented flying laboratories modified to take atmospheric and radar measurements within tropical cyclones and winter storms, and a G-IV Gulfstream high-altitude jet above 41,000 feet (12 km) to document upper- and lower-level winds that affect cyclone movement. The computer models that forecast hurricane tracks and intensity mainly use G-IV dropwindsonde data collected day and night in storms affecting the United States.

General characteristics

• Crew: 11
• Length: 116 ft 10 in (35.6 m)
• Wingspan: 99 ft 8 in (30.4 m)
• Height: 33 ft 8.5 in (10.3 m)
• Wing area: 1300 ft² (120.8 m²)
• Empty weight: 61,500 lb (27,900 kg)
• Loaded weight: lb (kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 139,760 lb (63,400 kg)
• Powerplant: 4 × Allison T56-A-14 turboprop, 4,600 shp (3,700 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 466 mph (745 km/h)
• Range: 2,700 miles combat / 5,600 miles ferry (4,400 km / 9,000 km)
• Service ceiling: 28,300 ft (8,600 m)
• Rate of climb: 3,140 ft/min (957 m/min)
• Wing loading: 107 lb/ft² (530 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.3 hp/lb (0.06 kW/kg)

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